


i see the wasp on the length of my arm

by robinauts



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, In-between Canon, how do refuge residents wrap their heads around the relic? who knows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 18:39:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10519542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robinauts/pseuds/robinauts
Summary: Even as far-removed as Refuge is from most of civilization, reports of its Purple Worms have spread fast and spread wide.Ren's a lesbian. Antonia is on her way to her next job in Neverwinter.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For an ask meme - "kiss on the hand."
> 
> This fic has been sitting basically finished for WEEKS now, so I figured I might as well just post it! I'm tired of looking at it.

Even as far-removed as Refuge is from most of civilization, reports of its Purple Worms have spread fast and spread wide. Adventurers and scholars alike account for the town’s increased tourism, all of them hoping to investigate the creature that’s said to have ventured up from the Underdark to see daylight.

Ren privately thinks they’re all pretty silly. She knows that’s because from her perspective, it’s been seven whole years since she was killed and killed and killed right before the Worm destroyed the town, and they haven’t shown up since. But to everyone else outside of the bubble, it’s only been a month or two.

She still isn’t exactly certain how all those loops took place. Late at night, when the nightmares of her body being burnt to a crisp or crushed in rubble have her awake, screaming, she tries to work through what had _happened,_  but her mind won’t make the connection. So she’s left only with memories that surface at the worst of times. At least June is there, silent but steady, to hug her as she shakes.

Regardless! All the visitors mean that the Davy Lamp, which is still the best (and only) saloon in town, is getting steady business, which keeps her mind off of things. She has her “diploma” framed on top of the bar, and whenever she glances at it she feels calmer, safer.

It’s the weekend, so there’s a bunch of out-of-towners, looking at the statues and the holes outside city limits and generally being pretty underwhelmed by their little village. She gets it - Refuge was a big (or should she say small?) change from the sprawling tunnel highways of the Underdark - but it still rankles her nerves. Refuge is _her town_ and she went through a lot with her neighbors, and she doesn’t like to hear jokes about its two streets from people who don’t know gold from cowpies! But at least they seek shelter from the hot desert sun in her bar, and they buy lots and lots of cool drinks, keeping the diamonds flowing into her cash register.

This afternoon, there are some people fiddling with the shuffleboard table (Ren had gotten the busted leg fixed a couple of years ago, so now it’s operable for anyone that knows how to _play_ shuffleboard) and some others noodling on the piano, and of course, Ash and their tall friend sitting in the corner, challenging strangers to hopeless bets, but Ren’s attention is stuck on the two travelers at the bar: a half-elf man (Rowan, brandy and some pork rinds) and a wood elf woman (Antonia, local pomegranate cider). They’ve been chatting with her all evening, engaged and curious and personable, and Ren finds herself hopelessly charmed.

Well. She means... Rowan is fairly handsome in a rugged way, although Ren isn’t usually that good at telling that sort of thing, and he’s very nice and all that, a super pleasant dude, but...

Antonia is _so pretty._ She’s got this purple hair that just _shines_ in the lanterns of the bar and perfectly complements her brown skin; it curls down to her shoulders in the loveliest way and Ren wants to run her hands through it. She’s dotted all over with scars, more revealed when she shucked off her jacket… along with some _amazing_ arm muscles. Ren nearly _fainted,_ only just managing to grip onto the bar to keep herself upright. She still dropped a glass though, and _that_ had been embarrassing. But Antonia had chuckled understandingly and that had made it all worth it. On the whole, Antonia doesn’t seem to mind her enthusiasm, and smiles encouragingly when Ren talks and talks. Her eyes - a beautiful deep forest green - look at her steadily, and make her feel warm and safe.

And like, she _knows_ that falling for out-of-towners isn’t the greatest idea, especially when Antonia had told her that she and Rowan would only be staying the night on their way to Neverwinter (and she couldn’t tell her more about the job, but she’d said with a sparkle in her eyes that it was real important), but a little flash crush never hurt anybody, right?

Especially when Antonia is super interested in how she and Redmond make the cider from the stone fruit trees - Ren has regaled the story of Refuge’s famed (and long gone) Purple Worms _so many times,_ so having someone wanting to talk about something else is real nice. And Antonia has so many cool stories from her and Rowan’s mercenary work, and Ren finds herself nodding and laughing and hanging on to every word Antonia says. June keeps shooting her these knowing looks, complete with wiggling eyebrows. Ren wants to tell her to get back to work, but considering she’s spent the whole evening talking to Antonia and Rowan, she really can’t without June giving her an even _worse_ look.

Eventually, Rowan’s yawning every other minute and excuses himself upstairs to him and Antonia’s room (and Ren can’t tell you how hard it was to restrain a sigh of relief when they’d specified two beds). And then everyone else starts filtering out, until it’s just Ren and Antonia, wrapped up in conversation. Ren’s taking her sweet time cleaning every glass she can, wiping down the bar over and over. She’s pretty sure Antonia can tell she’s dawdling, but Antonia is also leaning towards her and _looking_ at her in the best way, and she’s just giddy with it all. She hasn’t had this good a time flirting with a girl in a long while.

And then the lamps start to flicker out, and there’s a pause between them. Ren desperately wants to say something, but can’t think of anything that wouldn’t sound vapid or idle. She wants to keep talking to Antonia - wants to talk with her for hours and hours, wants to find out more about her, wants to see how soft her hair really is, wants to feel her scars under her fingers, wants and wants and wants.

In the end, Antonia breaks the silence. “Hey,” she starts, and Ren nearly jumps into the air. Antonia chuckles, and rests her hand on Ren’s arm. Her skin is warm and has rough, nearly bark-like skin, and Ren’s breath is thick in her throat.

“Rowan and I have to head out very early tomorrow morning,” Antonia says, and Ren _knows_ her ears droop. “So I don’t know if we’ll see you. But, um.” And here Antonia pauses, teeth working at her lower lip, eyes askance.

Ren has a swell of courage and turns her hand to grip Antonia’s wrist. Antonia’s eyes dart to their hands, staring for a moment, and then she swallows and looks back up at Ren, one side of her mouth tugging up just a tad.

“When I’m done with this job - I don’t think it’ll take too long or be _that_ difficult - I won’t have to work for a _long_ while. So, uh, expect to see me around?” Antonia says, and Ren’s heart nearly stops in her chest. She’s so overwhelmed that Antonia seems to take her silent shock as rejection and hurries on, “Well, I mean, because this is really a lovely town, and what you said about the stonefruit trees was very interesting and -”

Ren manages to overcome her internal screaming and waves a hand around wildly, bouncing on her heels. “That sounds - that sounds _great!”_ she yelps, and then covers her mouth when she noticed how loud she said that.

Antonia chuckles, the tips of her ears flushing just like Ren knows her own are, and squeezes Ren’s forearm. “I’m… I’m incredibly glad to hear that,” Antonia murmurs, grinning. “You’re _very_ cute.”

Ren’s knees nearly buckle, and she buries her face on the bar, giggling giddily and ohhhhh, goodness, this sure is something, huh?

And then she feels her arm being lifted, hand slipping down so it catches on Antonia’s wrist, and she looks up to see Antonia press a kiss to the back of her hand. Her breath catches in her throat, and her hand is left hanging in the air when Antonia lets go of it as she hops off her barstool.

“I’ve got to go to bed,” she says. “Long journey tomorrow. But - yeah. I’ll definitely be here when I can.”

“Yeah!” Ren says once she jolts herself out of her delighted shock, and can’t help but watch Antonia head up the stairs to the rooms. Antonia looks over her shoulder and smiles when she sees Ren staring, winking at her.

Ren settles into bed soon after that, the skin on the back of her hand still tingling and sparking, smile stuck on her face, but her gut churns.

There’s a sense of foreboding that won’t leave her slowly dozing mind. Not about Antonia - she doesn’t get any bad vibes from her whatsoever - but there’s something else. Something that reminded her of the feeling in her stomach during every walk to the bank during the loops.

As she falls asleep, she manages to push it from her mind.

She’s really looking forward to her and Antonia seeing each other again.

**Author's Note:**

> And into Wonderland Antonia goes... but I promise it ends up okay!! Antonia is gonna need some TLC and Ren is the best girl in TAZ (in my gay opinion), so she can happily provide.
> 
> Thanks SO MUCH to [Mauve](http://phantomsteed.tumblr.com/) ([piraete on here!](http://archiveofourown.org/users/piraete/pseuds/piraete)) for cleaning this up for me. Absolutely would not have been able to finish it without her. 
> 
> OH and the AMAZING art-sicordial drew fanart, sort of!! It's of Antonia returning to Refuge and the girls reuniting!! [Check it out and give it the love it deserves!!](http://flovvright.tumblr.com/post/159140664269/art-sicordial-some-sort-of-post-canon-rentonia)
> 
> Find me on tumblr at [flovvright]()! Thanks for reading!!


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